Seven Hours
by Jasmin Kenobi
Summary: Nobody ever expects their ship to be stolen right out of drydock, right? T'Ali t'Ahvi certainly didn't, and now she has to take it back before it can enter the heart of enemy territory. On top of that, there's a few emotional twists, her crazy crew, and a dangerous new threat. To think she had thought she could get a vacation for once.
**So, this is yet another STO forum ULC prompt fic. However, I'm twisting the prompt a bit to fit a story I've been toying with for a while and want to make canon for one of my characters.**

 **So, the prompt talks about a mutiny, but we all know that can be twisted. I've recently come up with the idea that one of my characters has her ship stolen from her for all of seven hours before it was retaken. Of course, the biggest question is How? The second biggest is Who? The third biggest is Why? I guess it's time to find out.**

"Seven Hours"

"Hey, Uhlan! Grab that tricorder and get over here!"

"Ie, Arrain!"

Uhlan Presk hurried to get the tricorder as asked and ran over to Arrain Heral. The Arrain was sweating fiercely as he tried to maintain the EPS conduit he was trying to fix.

The _RRW Telnor_ was in for repairs after a fight with a group of Tholian ships in the Azure Nebula. Despite having overpowered the Tholians, the damned things had more ships and had almost managed to overwhelm the _Telnor_ with numbers alone. Riov T'Ali had pulled an incredible trick out of her personal book of such tricks and managed to ram four of the Tholian ships into asteroids.

His thought process was interrupted by an odd sound from across the engineering section. It sounded like a disruptor blast…

Looking over, Presk saw that Erei'Riov Kellus had just shot Erei'Riov Veril, the chief engineer.

"Arrain, you need to get out of there now!"

"What?" Heral demanded, pulling out of the maintenance hatch as he finished the repairs.

"Erei'Riov Veril was just shot!" Presk hissed.

Heral looked over and swore softly before grabbing Presk's arm and dragging him over to a maintenance crawlway.

"Listen to me carefully, Presk," the gruff arraign snapped, "You are going to get in this tube, crawl to the communications relay, and alert the drydock staff. Once you do so, you will go to the brig and free any officers of this ship that are there. You will see if Veril is there and you will ask her to test the crew to make sure none of them are plants, am I understood?"

"Y-yes sir!" Presk squeaked, "But what about you?"

"I'm going to distract them while you get in this damned tube!" Heral hissed, rising and stalking over to Kellus.

"Erei'Riov! What is the meaning of this?"

Kellus chuckled, "This ship is now the property of the Tal Shiar. I do hope you won't need it any further. Although… it is good to take something from the woman who has plagued us for so long."

Heral snarled and his hand flew towards his disruptor.

Kellus simply aimed and pulled his trigger. The blast impacted squarely with Heral's chest, causing the elder man to stagger on the walkway and loose his balance, falling off of it.

Presk choked on his fear and anger and crawled as fast as he could.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Five Minutes Earlier…

T'Ali i-Ashalla t'Ahvi chuckled as Tovan tr'Khev pointed out a tiny ship being towed into the drydock.

"How does Riov tr'Khellian keep finding trouble?" she asked.

H'daen tr'Khellian was something of a minor legend amongst some of the officers who remembered the times before the loss of the homeworlds. The man was half-Romulan and half-human, but all trouble. He had two talents: finding trouble and telling tall tales that would make a Klingon proud. Despite his official alliance with the Federation, he was often seen in the company of Klingons who were eager to hear his next tale.

"I have no idea," Tovan grinned, "But he managed to rip a nacelle off. Who wants to bet that the Klingons are going to love this one?"

A technician working in the drydock's command center smirked, "Ya hear that, Dockie? Tr'Khellian's back!"

Enriov Docian tr'Tyrava offered a choice phrase in response.

The technician snorted and returned to work on the comm console.

As T'Ali watched, she noticed something odd. The _Telnor_ was moving, backing out of the dock.

"Already done with repairs, Enriov? I thought we took more of a beating than that."

Docian narrowed his eyes and T'Ali could see his prosthetic Borg eye narrowing in on the _Telnor_.

"There's still external damage and it looks like one nacelle is off from the other. Repairs are far from completed. Techie, get a read on that sh-"

"Sir, weapons fire detected on the _Telnor_!" the chief of security shouted.

"Fvadt!" Docian swore, "Get the tractors on her, now!"

The _Telnor_ fired once, twice, three times and the tractor emitters exploded.

"Make sure that ship stays here!" Docian shouted, slamming his hand down on a comm console.

A channel punched open to a bored looking centurion at New Romulus Command.

The centurion jumped when he saw who was on the comm and snapped to attention.

" _Enriov! Where do you need this call routed, sir?_ "

"This call is to be routed to Enriov tr'Kererek and I'm not taking no for an answer, boy."

The centurion nodded and after a few moments the face of Enriov tr'Kererek appeared.

" _Enriov tr'Tyrava. What is it?_ "

"Someone is trying to steal the _Telnor_. I can name on one hand the people who would want to steal any Republic ships."

" _Hirogen, maybe Orion or Gorn seperatists, Tal Shiar… you think it's the Tal Shiar._ "

"I do. They just destroyed the hidden tractor beam emitters. The designs of this dock are similar to that of the Empire's docks, so only the Tal Shiar or a really sneak Orion would know where they are."

 _"Okay, I'll send someone after that ship. I assume that it just warped out?_ "

"You would be correct, sir," T'Ali interrupted, "Whichever ship you send, I want to be on it."

Tr'Kererek looked faintly annoyed. He'd been annoyed at her quite often lately, probably because she kept following her gut instinct and going against orders. He should have known that she would do that, it was in her blood.

" _Fine, fine, very well,_ " he sighed, " _But you will be an observer and an advisor, nothing more. If anything, you will lead a boarding party as the ship commander so instructs."_

He signed off and T'Ali turned to Docian with her best, as humans termed it, shit-eating grin.

"Got a ship I can borrow?" she asked sweetly.

He responded by throwing his hands up and stalking off, muttering.

Techie smirked, "Do you want to test out the newest invention out of this place? It's like a Federation runabout, but it's about fifty percent bigger, has more weapons, and is faster."

"Hell yes."

"Figured. I'll prep her now."

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Veril woke in the brig and the first thing she did was lash out and kick the wall. Well, turns out she didn't get the wall.

Someone groaned and swore loudly, "Mind keeping your damn feet to yourself?"

She sat up and glared at the person. It was Satra. Just her luck.

Her attention was distracted from Satra by one of her own engineers, Heral. The man was wheezing as he lay on the floor, his face twisted in a visage of pain.

"Heral? What happened?" Veril demanded, shuffling closer amongst the crowd.

"I… I can't feel my legs! Elements save me, I can't feel my legs…" the man whimpered.

Veril cleared her throat once and bellowed "HIVEN!"

In the cell across from them, the chief medical officer sat bolt upright, offered a loud curse in what sounded like Klingon, and turned his gaze towards them.

"What? Oh… Heral?"

"He said he can't feel his legs," Veril told him.

Hiven pulled a tricorder out from somewhere and ran a scan, before altering the gain and scanning again.

"Did he take a nasty fall by any chance? Landed on his back, maybe with something digging into his back?"

"I was shot and fell off the walkway in Main Engineering," Heral gasped, "Elements, it hurts."

Hiven sighed, "Your spine is broken. I fear that with the way things are now, I won't be able to get you to the Infirmary in time to heal at least some damage."

Heral's face turned into a mask of pain and fear and Veril gave her voice another work out.

"Hey, whichever one of you Tal Shiar veruul is guarding us, we have critically injured in here. Would you at least allow him to be taken to the Infirmary!?"

A single guard with the rank tabs of a Centurion wandered over and smirked.

"Oh, I recall. I am the one who threw him in here with the rest of you. No, he may not receive treatment. He is a traitor, like all of you, Reman."

Veril snarled and managed to curtail herself from leaping at the forcefield.

The man sneered and carried on, offering an odd glance to Satra.

The elder woman shuddered and hissed, "He's certainly lower on the intelligence scale."

"On that, we agree."

One of the security officers, a deceptively small female who barely reached a meter and a half, screwed up her face and unleashed a torrent of obscenities at the Tal Shiar guard. She stopped only to take a breath, but she went on for five minutes before stopping and just glaring.

"I'd be scared of her," Satra warned the guard, "She's the only person on this ship who can give Tan'atar a run for his money."

"Who is Tan'atar?" the guard snapped.

A shadow fell over him from within the same cell as Hiven as the Jem'Hadar rose to his full height and rumbled, "I am."

The guard turned, made a sort of odd squeaking noise, and made haste to get away.

"He does not seem to be in a sociable mood," Tan'atar observed.

Despite herself, Veril snickered.

Not to the surprise of most, little N'alya did too. But hers was a darker sound, far more foreboding than Veril.

! #$%^&*()(*&^%$# !

The aptly named _RRW Temaonra_ sped along, carrying its small crew of four.

At the helm, Centurion Ratek carefully kept the runabout just out of the main traffic lanes. Tovan was at tactical, Decurion Aralis was at the science/operations station, and T'Ali had taken the engineering aspect.

"This is a horrible idea," Tovan announced, for the fifth time.

T'Ali rolled her eyes, "Alright, you pessimistic lunk. Look, if this was going to fail, the Prophets would have intervened by now, or the Elements would have sent an asteroid our way."

Aralis shrugged, "Maybe our prey might intervene."

"Screw 'em. Between the four of us, we can outsmart them."

Ratek looked nervous at this point, but he always did. He was T'Ali's helmsman on her old ship, but had taken medical leave after he'd managed to take a Nausicaan knife to the heart and had to have it replaced. He was about two meters in height, a scrawny wiry sort of fellow with dark hair and pale grey eyes. He was also of the House s'Ortikant, which was actually fortunate for T'Ali. Her grandfather had been of the Ortikant, so the two were practically relatives.

Aralis, on the other hand, was only a meter and a half, and had a stocky frame. Her hair was auburn and her eyes were green, a few shades paler than T'Ali's own blood green eyes. She looked more like a security officer than a scientist. She was a new addition to T'Ali's crew, a stellar cartographer who had come highly recommended. She'd just completed a tour on the _USS Freedom-A_. Considering that the _Freedom_ 's CO was a career science officer, that recommendation was indeed a high one.

"Right, so, this could get tricky. Someone just pinged our transponder and our fake ID might not hold if they get within visual range."

"Fvadt. Alright then, prepare to fire up weapons and shields."

"We're being hailed!" Tovan announced.

"By whom?"

"Uh… oh hells. It's the _Eihssinhhre_."

"T'Radaik? Oh damn. Wait, I thought she was on emergency personal leave. Didn't her father die?"

"I don't know, but they're pretty insistent."

"Fine, on screen."

To everyone's surprise, the weathered face of H'daen tr'Khellian appeared.

" _Pretty ship you found there. Looks like it's a bit overmatched by the_ Telnor _, though._ "

"What the hell are you doing out here, _daehlen_?"

"Kuoku, _I'm out here because tr'Kererek almost popped a proverbial fuse when he found out that you took experimental tech and decided to go for a spin._ "

T'Ali bristled at the term H'daen always used for her. One of his favorite things to do was call most of the newer commanders "child". One of these days, she'd have to remind him that she wasn't a child.

"I'm getting my ship back. I am damn well not going to be known as the riov who let the Tal Shiar take her damned ship from her. They aren't getting my ship, even if I have to blow it up, and no one is going to stop me."

" _Who said I was here to stop you? I'm here to join you! Anything that can make tr'Kererek pop a fuse is good in my book, and taking from the Tal Shiar only makes it better!"_

Tovan seemed to let go of some of his tension and sagged back in his chair a bit.

"Well. Um, okay. The, ah, the plan is to sneak up and board them using an airlock."

" _I will distract them. You will be a mere gnat. Tell me, have you noticed the full suite of stealth technology yet?_ "

"You mean the cloak I can fire through and the ion glide drive? Cousin T'Naira would be ecstatic right now."

" _We will catch up to your ship in four hours. Until then."_

He signed off and T'Ali muttered a faint prayer to the Prophets.

Only Aralis gave her a strange look. The others knew of her dual belief system and her many oddities.

"Right then. Ratek, Aralis, catch some sleep in the back. Tovan and I can handle up here. You get a two-hour power nap and then we switch. In four hours, sound battle stations and make sure it's loud in the back, because I'm bound to hit the sack pretty hard. After that, brace yourselves."

The two nodded and disappeared into the back and Tovan just chuckled.

"What now?" he asked, "It's not like we have anything to do other than mild course adjustments to avoid asteroids and debris."

T'Ali smirked and held up a deck of Earth cards.

"Blackjack?"

"I'm going to win again."

"Like hell."

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Presk carefully looked around through the grating above the communications relay and then checked his stolen tricorder. Sure enough, the anesthezine had worked and the Tal Shiar scum was all asleep.

Opening the grate, he dropped down and thanked his past self for having taken martial arts classes that allowed him to land properly.

He hurried over to the relay console and started to bring up a program from within the systems. It had been designed by Erei'Riov Satra for just this case, for if the ship was taken by any hostile force. It would disguise any communications signals and mask the source and recipient.

As it loaded, he dragged the Tal Shiar officers to a storage closet and tied them up within, making sure nothing dangerous was within their reach. He locked the door and sealed it with his disruptor, hoping no sensors detected that.

The console chirped, announcing that the program was loaded.

Presk grinned and hurried over to punch up a channel to the drydock, only to find that it was further away than he thought it was. Had he completely missed the deck vibrations announcing that the ship had gone to warp? It appeared he had.

So, he punched up a channel to the closest ship and waited.

" _Unidentified sender, this is Erei'Riov tr'Khev of the_ RRW Temaonra _. Identify yourself."_

"Erei'Riov? Thank the Elements, I got through! This is Uhlan Presk, I'm an engineer on the _Telnor_."

" _Uhlan, this is Riov T'Ali, how did you manage to get a signal out?_ "

'I used Erei'Riov Satra's program. Uhm, what do I do?"

 _"Stay calm and see if you can free any of the crew that might be in the brig. I'm sending a program along this channel that will trigger a delayed forcefield glitch in the brig. It'll look like the fields are still up, but that'll only be a trick of the lighting. Once they're free, you take back the ship. We'll be there in about two hours, alright? Hang in there!"_

"Ie, Riov! Uh, I've received the packet, I'm going to set it up now! Presk out."

He quickly severed the channel and got to work. It had already been four and a half hours that the ship had been captured, and he was now feeling quite hopeful.

Now to see if this actually worked.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Veril and Satra had decided to stage a fake shouting match to distract the guards from the tinkering of Lieutenant Commander Jarell Colvem in the next cell over. The Betazoid engineer had been aboard to help out in the repairs and to install a new internal sensor suite package, and had thus been caught in the Tal Shiar takeover. She hadn't been too happy about that and had muttered several epithets in the general direction of the guards, but they hadn't noticed or just hadn't cared.

"I've told you a dozen times, Satra, I didn't damage anything of yours other than your pride!" Veril was shouting, "It isn't my fault you have such a thick skin!"

"It isn't my fault you act like a Nausicaan!"

"What did you just call me?"

"You might as well be a damned harpy for all I care, you're arrogant, rude, and a child!"

Despite the fact that Veril knew this was an act, the dislike between the two was very much real and they had had arguments like this before. One of Satra's biggest problems with Veril was how the Reman always acted far older than she was. Veril was only twenty-two, by Romulan reckoning, and was the youngest of the senior staff. Apparently, Command had pitched a fit about someone so young being given command of the entire engine room, but Riov t'Ahvi had smacked them down in short order.

The guards were distracted now and watching with glee.

Veril gave Satra a slight push, but misgauged her strength. The Romulan woman staggered backwards into the forcefield…

And fell right through it, onto her rear.

There was gaping stares all around as Colvem called out, "Wasn't me!"

Then, Tan'atar rushed one of the two guards and snapped his neck. N'alya rushed the other and kicked him squarely in between his legs, bringing his head down to her level so she could snap his neck.

"A precise maneuver, Centurion," Tan'atar complimented the other security officer. She nodded simply and then pointed towards the guard station.

"Point," she said calmly. Tan'atar fell in behind her and they raided the guard station, killing the one guard who had fallen asleep there.

"Remember, we need prisoners," Hiven reminded them, "For them to get control of this ship, they needed a large network of assets in the Republic. What these people say could help us shut that network down."

"He makes a fair point," N'alya pouted.

"It is a wise decision and we will abide by it," Tan'atar ordered. The other security officers looked slightly relieved when N'alya brightened again.

"Right," Veril began, "We need the bridge and engineering, the rest are unimportant at the moment."

"Um, sir?" Lieutenant Karen Radowski, a Federation exchange officer who had been posted in Security stuck her hand in the air, "We need the armory, too. We can't let those assholes get that much weaponry."

"Fine. Tan'atar, you go for the Armory. I'll take Engineering, Hiven can be our guy on sensors, and Satra gets the bridge."

"I would recommend that you take N'alya with you, Erei'Riov," Tan'atar told her, "She will prove invaluable."

The Romulan perked up at hearing such praise spoken of her. Veril nodded.

"I can help with the Armory," Colvem volunteered, "I know how to rig various things to not blow up."

Tan'atar nodded his assent. Hiven spoke up and said that he'd be taking Heral with him, and requested Radowski to be their security and to help Heral, as the human was crosstrained as a medic.

Satra took a squad of fifteen and pulled them aside. That left about forty. Tan'atar took twenty and said that once he had taken the Armory, he would take Sickbay. Veril took the other twenty and said she would coordinate everything from Engineering.

Despite her and Satra's antagonism, the other woman didn't respond to that. Everyone knew that Veril had a serious grudge against the Tal Shiar for what happened with her father.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"Damn it all to the Kosst Amojan! And to hell while I'm at it!"

Tovan groaned and rolled over, yawning. T'Ali was sitting up in her bunk, rubbing her eyes furiously. He blinked once. Had she been… crying?

A quick glance over at the door assured him that it was closed. Another glance at the clock told him that they still had fifteen minutes before the alarm went off.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" she snapped, glaring.

"Really? Because you look like you've been crying. Seriously, what's wrong?" he kept going, sitting up and swinging his legs over the edge of the bunk before resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his right palm. He left his other hand free for gesticulating.

She rubbed her eyes for a few seconds more and then sighed, falling backwards on the bunk.

"I can't sleep. I just… I can't sleep, it won't happen. The one time I did manage to fall asleep, about ten minutes ago, I dreamt of… of… oh hells, I dreamt of my parents. I don't know why, I haven't actually dreamed about them in two decades now, but still. I dreamed of how my father would return from whatever military tour he was on that time and the first thing he would do is lift me on his shoulders. The second thing he would do was sneak up behind my mother and surprise her. He was the only one who could actually sneak up behind her. No one else could. She'd turn around and laugh and kiss him. I'd wind up making some childish comment and they'd start laughing… but then the dream always turns sour…"

"How?" Tovan asked quietly.

"Well, right after they laughed at my comment, my mother would suddenly get this expression on her face, a fearful one. I only saw that expression three times. Once, when someone had tried to kill me. Another time, when the homeworlds were destroyed, and the final time when my father disappeared on a tour and his commander told her personally. Hell, I only saw her cry twice, on those second two occasions. Anyway, my father would turn, with me still on his shoulders, and I would see this wave of light, coming towards us. We would run, and I always ended up on the ground running. First, my father would fall behind and disappear and then my mother. When the light caught me, I would suddenly be on Virinat again and the light was a disruptor blast. The dream varies, but that's the general outcome."

Tovan didn't know what to say. She'd never even hinted at anything like this before, just how long had this been happening?

Before he could speak, the door opened and Ratek stepped through, his hand outstretched to grab something on a small shelf near the door.

"Oh… uh, hello. We're about five minutes out, they slowed long enough for us to narrow the gap by about a minute and a half. So, uh…"

Tovan nodded and thanked him, shooing the pilot out.

"Are you alright?" he asked T'Ali.

"Not really, but I'll manage," she replied honestly as she pulled her tunic on and buttoned it up, snagging her pauldron and drapery and pulling that on as well.

He noted that she'd chosen to wear an all-black ensemble, with the pauldron the only spot of color on her. It was her standard one, silver with green highlights. Stitched into the drapery, at the shoulder in a very small block of space, was the patch that she had managed to get, denoting the Third Fleet of the Imperial Navy. She said her mother had served in that fleet. Next to it was the Bajoran national symbol.

"Right then. Time to wreck these bastards."

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Five and a half hours after the ship had been taken, the crew was fighting back. It was proving difficult to get anywhere, though, as the Tal Shiar captors had put forcefields around everything.

Jarell Colvem hunkered down with Centurion Taril and Juril, the Orion exchange officer. Taril was busy reporting enemy movements and Juril was whipping up stun grenades. Jarell was busy trying to make the forcefield surrounding the armory go down.

She was about to tweak something else when a disruptor blast caught her in the arm and she reflexively cried out in pain.

Juril instantly transposed himself between her and any potential danger. For some reason, the big Orion had a soft spot for her, but no one knew why.

Taril offered up a curse in Klingon and snagged a small portable shield generator from his toolkit, activating the device around the trio.

"We aren't getting anywhere!" Taril shouted.

"Tell me something I don't know!" Jarell yelled back, getting back to work. She didn't do well under pressure and never really had.

Suddenly, the Tal Shiar officers were under attack from behind.

Two figures in all black were attacking, backed up by four in standard uniforms.

"Not my ship, you veruulir!"

"The Riov…" Taril hissed, "About damn time."

Tan'atar led the charge that corralled the Tal Shiar goons into a crossfire that wiped them all out.

"Report, Lieutenant Commander," Riov t'Ahvi ordered sharply.

"We are not successful in retaking the Armory as of yet. There are more enemy within, but we have not been successful in bypassing the forcefield."

Tovan tr'Khev seemed to shrug as he looked back at a burly Reman officer in standard uniform.

The Reman chortled and hoisted a rather large weapon.

"Oh hell," Juril hissed, "Is that what I think it is?"

"It is," the Reman replied, "Everyone, behind me!"

People scattered to get behind him as he aimed the weapon and fired, a large ball of energy smashing through the forcefield, shorting it out.

"That's certainly fancy."

"Electro-magnetic pulse. It most likely shorted out most of the Armory."

"We can recharge the weaponry in there later," t'Ahvi said, "So get in there and kick some ass!"

Jarell cracked a smile and said "Oorah!"

T'Ahvi rolled her eyes and smirked.

"At least someone has a sense of humor.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Heral was whimpering again and Hiven felt pathetic for not being able to help him. Sure, Hiven had never received any medical training before he joined the Republic, but he went where he was needed. His job on the station had been simple: he monitored the comms systems with his brother. And then a Republic officer wound up on the station and his brother died at the hands of the Tal Shiar

Karen was busy working. She and Hiven got along well, having talked extensively before. She'd come to him when she first came aboard the ship and had given him a PADD that informed him that she didn't need the monthly standard C-shot. When Hiven had asked her why, she'd quietly told him that she was asexual and had managed to wrangle the permission out of Starfleet Medical so she didn't need to waste her time.

Hiven had surprised her by telling her that he was asexual as well. They two had been friends ever since.

"Hey, something just pinged on the network," Karen was saying as Hiven snapped back into the present.

"Can you identify it?"

"Hold on a sec… oh damn, it's Tal Shiar. I can listen in, though."

"Do it."

There was a crackling as they started to eavesdrop.

" _-shuttle pulled alongside the ship and disappeared, it may have been potential traitor-saboteurs. Four lifesigns were detected and four new lifesigns have appeared on the ship."_

" _The Republic is becoming a thorn in my side, Riov. I told you to steal that ship and you can't seem to be able to do even that."_

" _Is it my fault that this ship still have officers on it and they managed to escape from the brig?_ "

" _If you had executed them as ordered to, this would not be a problem._ "

The first voice sighed, " _Fine, fine. I've just ordered my men to execute any Republic officer on sight. I have confirmation now that this ship's original commander is aboard."_

" _T'Ahvi is aboard? Who else?_ "

" _Tr'Khev is aboard, as is someone of House s'Ortikant and an unidentified person."_

" _Tr'Khev? Ah, that would be Erei'Riov Tovan tr'Khev, Riov t'Ahvi's little pet. Pity, we could have used a man like him."_

" _The Tal Shiar tortured his sister, he wouldn't work for us._ "

" _He would if we found the right leverage. House s'Khev doesn't have much left to its name, but it is still a powerful and rich house. I wonder if t'Ahvi realizes that her good first officer is the scion of one of the most powerful industry clans in the Empire?"_

 _"Probably not, sir._ "

" _No, I would suppose not. Very well, keep t'Ahvi, tr'Khev, tr'Ortikant, and anyone else in the file I'm sending you alive. Kill all of the others."_

" _Yes sir._ "

The channel closed and all three looked at each other in awe.

"Well damn," Karen muttered, "Looks like Erei'Riov tr'Khev is the Romulan equivalent of a merchant baron."

"I bet you D'Tan knows," Heral rasped, "How do you think we're getting all the hardware?"

"The Feds and the Klinks?" Hiven replied.

Karen gave him a mock-glare, "There's more hardware than either the Federation or the Klingon Empire has been putting out. I wonder why he didn't want to tell us?"

"I don't know and I don't care. Don't tell the Riov, any of you, okay? If Tovan didn't want her to know, he probably has a reason. I'll talk to Rinna, see what she can tell me. This will be our little mystery," Hiven grinned.

Heral shrugged and then swore loudly in what sounded like Cardassian.

Karen gently put a hand on the crippled engineer's shoulder and murmured a few soothing words to him.

Hiven cursed his uselessness again and went back to monitoring the channels in between whipping up another concoction of drugs to ease Heral's pain.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Riov Kerath tr'Illialhlae sighed and gazed at the viewscreen. This Republic ship should have been easy to capture, but only six hours in and there was stiff resistance from the crew brimming over.

"Arrain tr'Tyrava, I would appreciate some good news."

"I can't give you any, sir. Our forces are having trouble. The Armory force reported what looks like a Jem'Hadar, but they're not answering any hails now."

"Try again."

"Sir, they're responding this time!"

Kerath stood and paced the bridge, "Armory, report."

" _Sorry to burst your bubble, Tal Shiar, but they're dead or dying. I am Riov T'Ali t'Ahvi and you just tried to capture the wrong ship, veruul._ "

Kerath snarled, "Listen here, girl, you cannot win. The Tal Shiar is far stronger than your Republic and we always will be. Give it up, now."

" _You're barely strong enough to keep us from harassing your patrols, let alone take us on full force. If anything, even the True Way could wipe you out and they're pathetic!"_

This girl was certainly stubborn, Kerath had to give her that.

" _Also, by now you'll have noticed your Engineering teams no longer responding in and Sickbay will be retaken in a matter of minutes. You failed."_

He released a low hiss as he snapped, "If I find you, you will die by my hands."

" _I look forward to it, scum._ "

The channel clicked closed and Kerath swore loudly, slamming his fist on the helmsman's console, startling the young female.

"T'Tyrava, get us out of here."

Aliene t'Tyrava exchanged a nervous glance with her twin brother and hurridly plotted in the course.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"He's going to need to get to Mol'Rihan, or preferably a Starfleet medical facility. I can't do anything for him here, it's too late."

T'Ali hated how guilty Hiven looked right now. It wasn't his fault; it was the fault of those Tal'Shiar bastards. It had only been thirty minutes since her talk with the Tal Shiar commander and now she was determined to kill the bastard.

"We'll do what we can, just make him comfortable. Tovan, with me."

She stepped aside and Tovan followed, an eyebrow arched.

"We need to take the bridge. Satra's team was badly hurt trying to do so, but maybe a smaller team can. I have the command codes; I can get into anything."

Tovan shrugged, "I don't know. Seven of her fifteen people were killed, that's one hell of a resistance we'd be meeting."

"Not if we go in through my Ready Room."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he'd never expect it. T'Lira once told me about it, even the Jem'Hadar fell for it, no offense, Tan'atar!"

The sharp-eared Jem'Hadar nodded once and continued to talk to Juril as the big Orion patched up Jarell's wound.

"Who should we take?"

"Ratek, to snag the helm instantly. Satra, to man ops. You, because you're handy with a gun. Tan'atar for close combat, and me, for obvious reasons."

"You're sure you want to kill this guy, personally?"

T'Ali sighed, "Tovan, what he's done to my crew merits me drawing my Blade on him, and I will. What he does after that is fine by me, I'm going to kill him either way."

"Fine, fine. Doesn't mean I'm not going to worry about you, you're my friend."

For an instant, as he walked away to confer with Satra and Ratek, T'Ali felt a flash of disappointment. Why would she be disappointed in Tovan? He was an excellent officer and a damned good friend.

"Odd…" she muttered to herself as she walked over to Tan'atar to chat with him.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Kerath was starting to get anxious. Six hours and forty-five minutes, that's how long he'd had control of this ship. And now, the only safe spot was the bridge. That bitch traitress had killed the others.

The s'Tyrava twins weren't meeting his gaze for some reason, especially after he'd gotten done tearing the tactical officer a new one for not doing anything to stop the traitors from killing loyal Tal Shiar officers.

He ran a hand through his now-grey hair and lamented on the days when it used to be jet-black. It had only been ten years ago… this slate grey had appeared in the last decade, reminding him that he was nearly two hundred years old and still only a Riov. It annoyed him, but then he remembered people who'd remained in their ranks far longer. At the same time, he also remembered young upstarts. The perfect example of both would probably be the commanders of the T'sarok and the Valdore, back in the day, before they betrayed the Empire.

He was musing on this subject when there was a tap on the Ready Room door caused all eyes to turn towards the door.

Another tap echoed around the now-silent bridge and his eyes narrowed.

"Stand back from the door, now."

And they did, just in time for it to slide open slightly and a grenade to roll in.

"Take cover!" he shouted, leaping behind a console as the grenade went off, emitting blinding light. He'd had his eyes closed the entire time, but he could hear the twins and the tactical officer cry out in pain, and three disruptor blasts silenced those cries.

"Traitors…" he snarled, rising and drawing his trademark double disruptor pistols.

But the only thing he saw was a slim woman with a single rifle. She was tall, and eerily calm. Her face looked like a Vulcan's, and even her green eyes didn't show any emotion. Green eyes… this was Riov t'Ahvi. She was so young… a mere child…

"I take it you're in charge of all these Tal Shiar goons?" she asked calmly.

"They are not goons, traitress, they are soldiers of the Empire that you betrayed."

"I betrayed it, huh? Funny, I thought betrayal came only from those who were a part of something."

"You are Romulan, and you have betrayed the Empire you were born into."

"Actually, I wasn't born in the Empire, but that's a mere technicality. I did have citizenship, and I'd rather say I didn't. The Empire is a disgrace to the Romulan people… wait, no… the Tal Shiar is a disgrace to the Romulan people. If only those changelings had crushed you and the Obsidian Order just a bit more back in that joint operation…"

Kerath knew what she was talking about. He'd almost been a part of that, but had been called away for a more important mission at the last minute. It was the only reason he was still alive.

"Let me cut to the chase," t'Ahvi continued, "You drop those pistols and draw your Blade, now. I swear it upon the bodies of all those you murdered today, I will spill your blood with my Blade."

Kerath had a reputation to uphold now, as a swordsmaster.

"Very well, girl," he sneered and dropped his pistols, drawing his Honor Blade. She smirked and drew hers. He instantly recognized the hilt…

"Riov T'Ali i-Mheissan t'Kaveth was a fine commander. You are not."

"But it runs in the family," the girl smirked, "After all, I was named after her, she was my grandmother."

With that, she leapt, attacking. He brought his Blade up in time to meet hers as it swung neatly towards his face. She used a clumsy two-handed grip, but he had long since mastered a one-handed grip.

Her Blade slid down his as he thrust it away. She staggered back, swore, and tightened her grip. Kerath smirked.

He slipped inside her clumsy thrust and inserted his blade neatly between her ribs.

Or so he thought.

T'Ahvi suddenly gained grace and poise as she twirled just far enough away to be out of reach, but also in an optimal attack position.

He didn't even see her Blade slice into his heart. He just saw his Blade pierce her left side as she stepped towards him to deliver the final blow.

As his vision went dark, he smirked. At least he wouldn't have to face the Enriov now.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

T'Ali heaved a sigh when she killed the bastard, but then noticed the sharp pain in her side when she did so.

The door to her Ready Room opened just as she looked down and saw the Blade sticking out of her torso.

"Oh, damn," she muttered as she staggered and fell to her knees, pulling the Blade out of her body.

"What the- T'Ali!" Tovan shouted, vaulting over the bodies to catch her as she fell. Tan'atar policed the remaining Tal Shiar as Satra whipped her tricorder out. Ratek was already manning the helm, turning the ship back around.

"Seven hours," she whispered, "That's how long they had this ship… Seven hours and this ship is blooded by the Tal Shiar… Should I thank them?"

Her vision grew blurry for a moment as she noticed the look on Tovan's face. Concern and worry, with a touch of fear.

"I'll be fine, you dolt," she teased, struggling to sit up, only to lose strength in her arms.

"Let's get you to the Infirmary, and then we'll let Hiven evaluate that claim."

"That sounds like an excellent plan…" she murmured, her head falling backwards as the rapid blood loss stripped her consciousness from her.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Docian tr'Tyrava gazed at the bodies of his twin children. Who would have thought they'd actually be caught up in this? Kerath had been a damned fool to ever think he could actually keep that damned crew alive long enough to get useful intel out of them. They were too stubborn.

But it hadn't been him who killed the twins. It had been t'Ahvi. That bitch had murdered his sweet babies, and she would pay for that.

He looked at his data tablet and gazed at the profile it contained.

Tovan tr'Khev was needed leverage, especially now that his sister was all but useless. The current lord of House s'Khev was giving Imperial technology to these traitors, simply because his nephew wanted him to. Perhaps if Telor tr'Khev were to meet with a sudden accident… no, that would transfer all his holdings to the next in line, Tovan. It was unfortunate that Telor had no surviving children after the destruction of the Homeworlds. They might have been useful.

"Enriov?" Techie asked. The technician was utterly clueless, as always.

"Ah, sorry, Techie. It's just… I'd never have thought that my niece and nephew would join the Tal Shiar. They always seemed like such good kids. I can't imagine what my sister must be going through right now."

Techie nodded, "It's always a badly dealt hand, life is. Hells, I've got a cousin in the Tal Shiar, he probably hates my guts. But that's the way of things."

"That it is, my friend. Come, let's go look at that prototype and see how it did."

 **Holy hell. 17 pages, this is my second longest document and the longest one-shot I've ever written. Right on, me. Anyway, let me know what you think of all the twists. I'll actually continue this later, if I can get the right prompts to. I like playing with my toons, especially T'Ali. Between all of my toons, I'm pretty sure that T'Ali, T'Lira, and Sarissa are the ones with the most developed backgrounds and storylines so far.**

 **Anyway, toodaloo for now. Until next month!**


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